True and again true. But I believe that socio-constructivism is a bit too modern for this timeframe. Then again it may not. Perhaps the most appropriate term one could use about any timeframe when regarding states, policies and so on would be "elasticity of thought" doubled by an anchorage in pragmatism and "idealism" at the same time. (not related to liberalism in any way
, rather "idealism" in the sense that some exiled Mozarabs promoted the idea of a resurrected Visigothic kingdom at the court of Alfonso of Castille-Leon)
I must've been sleepwalking when I wrote the thing about "Fatimids". Of course, I meant the Mameluks and the example I had in mind was the Battle of Ain Jalut, at which the time the Mameluks supposedly had an agreement to camp and resupply outside Acre and actually did so when the time came. (The deal involved something with selling horses as well, so here's also the economical aspect
). Hm, the Taifa example is a valid one, but you'll have to look a bit further. They only united like you said, after the fall of Toledo, before that they had spent their time fighting each other even though it was obvious that independently they were no match for the christian coallition of the north. Of course, it could be argued that these states were just poor realists and didn't see the danger until it was almost too late.
Thank you for the titles, I already discovered them all on Amazon (also found something very interesting called Muslim Spain and Portugal: A political History of Al-Andalus if I recall correctly). But still, too few and certainly nothing worthwile on Almanzor
, not to mention Andalusi art from 711-1000. This or a hybrid of these two topics would be perfect for me. But alas and what not.
Talking about the game, can one be sure that a succesfull Al-Andalus would have attempted to colonise (at least before the 1530's)? I mean sure, trade, profit etc, but as I believe you said in one post, the Andalusi were already in the best place they could think of, no reason to look further (for starters at least). I think the colonial aspect of Al-Andalus should be reduced a bit until the mid 1500's (unless of course, they select option C regarding the Christians) and they could concentrate more on expanding into Africa. (sort of like the Mameluks)
